What does a Story look like?

Is it piece of music, or collection of sounds? Perhaps objects or collection of data (personal or otherwise).
Or it is a person's experience recorded, played back or re-enacted through a game, play or written word?
It can of course be all of these things, and it was a collection of talks about individual projects like this that I heard about at last week's conference 'The Story 2001'. Top speakers took to the stage to tell us of their own (or others) stories, and it was a superbly awe-inspiring day.

First up, were Lucy, Ben and I to showcase the wonderful project, The Ministry of Stories, that I regularly mentor and illustrate for. The aim of the Ministry is to provide children with access to free writing and storytelling workshops, to unleash their creativity and give them the confidence to believe in themselves and their potential.
As a mentor, I certainly see first hand the difference of a young shy child, or someone who has no self-belief, open up, have fun and enjoy being creative. The school trips also involve a refreshing break for kids to experience the Monster shop and mystery of The Chief behind closed office doors. It's great fun, and I enjoy going as I get to be a bit of a kid again!
I also illustrate for these youngsters, who challenge me with their wild ideas of creatures with fans for faces, eight legs with upside down knobbly knees and inside out toes! We put this simple task to the test at the conference, giving the audience the chance to create their own monster. They too were certainly imaginative. And there it is: The Pedicurist.

It's eyes, round and yellow like pickled onions; it's mouth as vicious as an amoeba with a head cold, with teeth as hairy as a hippy's armpits.
It has three nostrils, all of varying sizes and its arms are as irregular as the Lib Dem's coalition promises. It's body is wrinkled like
a condom stuffed with walnuts, and it's tail, long and sharp. It has extremely beautiful feet.

Karl Jones contrasted the morning with his very powerful and emotional Dialogue Project, whereby he collects and records conversations with individuals. He is more of a story listener than a storyteller. He talked about the power of listening, and that all we have after listening is the change it has created : be it the support it has provided, reassurance, or focus it has given the other person. He played extracts from conversations that were very moving, about schoolchildren who felt isolated and and treated like "something on the bottom of their shoe". Yet there was a feeling of hope for these kids as they realised as they were being listened to, the respect that they may not receive could be a result of respect they don't give out. So if we're better story listeners, it may well affect the outcome of the stories that are told.
Next we had Turner prize winning Cornelia Parker. It was great to see her talk about her work so modestly, yet also to hear the explanations behind her 'stories' first hand. She talked about her beginnings as an artist, and how she loves used objects - how they all have a story to tell. It's the life & death of objects that she was concerned with in her well known artworks of an exploding shed, fragments of ashes from a church spire & bricks from a building, adding "Friction starts a good story".

In 1997, she decided she'd take a closer look of Einstein's theory under a microscope. The piece makes the chalk marks from his board almost look like fluffy clouds (a much lighter hearted way of looking at it).

This was just one example of how looking at objects (or pieces of art) can be interpreted differently. each person has their own version of the story to tell. For instance she displayed a two beautiful metal shapes cut to form a Colt gun the pro-gun brigade thought it was “beautiful”, the anti-gun lobby were pleased Cornelia had “aborted” the gun before it became a dangerous weapon.
Another example of her dry wit was her piece in the Tate where she wrapped Rodin's famous sculpture, 'The Kiss' in rope and called it "The Distance (A Kiss with String Attached)". Her sideways approach really shows that objects are not necessarily what someone says they are - you can give it a whole new story.

Right, I've been rambling on so much, I think I'll have to finish this report in parts. Stay tuned!

Don't Bin it, Bring it!

Nice little stop frame animation by Rubber Republic for Recycle Now, letting people know they can recycle electrical goods across the UK. A battle between a bin and printer takes place, ending in a Star Wars style finale.

Advertising has shrunk

Following from my post below about advertising in small places I spotted the other night an "i-Ad" on my phone - it's literally a banner ad for the iphone. I mean, is it me or is this small space advertising getting ridiculous? I wonder how much they charge the client for this? Up until now I actually found it quite refreshing to be able to read an article without some irritating flashing ad around it. And as an Art director the pixel space can't give you much to play with.  Is this really the best way to serve clients?

The Creaturezoid

It must be the influence and imagination of all the wonderful kids at the Ministry of Stories where I have been mentoring, that I came up with my own creature - a sort of flying monkey that is very in touch with outer space. It travels between prehistoric times and the future, so has unique animalistic characteristics that adapt to it's environment. You never know, I may just write my own short story, but for now, it has become a submission as part of The Creature Curiosity Project; a non-profit collaborative venture bringing illustrators and children together with an aim to spread creativity and self-expression. Artists are invited to create the first (or back) half of a creature, then through workshops children will be invited to complete the other half. The project aims to use self directed learning to bring out the creative strengths of each child, and brings together an array of talents, organizations and teachers.
The project aims to hold an exhibition of the final work and hopefully a printed publication.

The Creaturezoid

Twittervision

Increasingly, articles are reporting that twitter has given a new lease of life to television ratings thanks to the inane banter/ heated debates that go on during programming. Now, tv producers can watch and receive realtime feedback from viewers and even interact themselves. This kind of audience engagement and consumer relationship has never occurred before.
I could never understand it - I mean, if you're watching a programme, you're watching a programme right? Wrong! Then I joined twitter. I had this inexplicable urge to let the world know my opinion and see what others were saying on the same subject. This instant conversation or eavesdropping of complete strangers was addictive. I have calmed down now, and do find 'following' twitter somewhat daunting, but you can't help but recognise the effect it has had on consumers and brands alike. You're no longer alone in voicing your opinion and shouting at the telly: you can tweet them instead. Incidentally, I love how that sounds delicate, almost like a nudge. 'Send us a tweet - it's not going to hurt'. I'm sure abuse can fit into 142 characters..

Daft Vader

This spot for VW made me laugh so had to put it up here. A successful collaboration between Lucasfilm and DeutSch LA agency. May the force be with you!

Advertising is shrinking

..in scale as well as monetary terms. It seems the dedicated consumer now has to look closer to spot the clever use of small spaces appropriately used to advertise a brand. Two great examples are these below. More can be found at The Coolhunter and Creative Social blog.

A Guiness Dartboard

A straw for a very bendy yoga studio.

Mary and Max

I saw a really heartwarming and beautiful animated film at the weekend. Mary and Max is a hour and half long story about two strangers that live on the other side of the globe to eachother, both struggling to get by in the odd world in which we live.
Mary Dinkle, a lonely eight year old living in Melbourne, decides
to pick someone randomly out of the phone book to write to and ask where babies come from. The lucky recipient of her bizarre questions and cherry-flavoured chocolate bar is Max Jerry Horowitz, an anxiety-ridden, forty five year old Jewish New York-en who attends over eaters anonymous once a week. Over time their questions and philosophies about the world see their friendship grow as they do. The film offers a great insight into the odd workings of human society, and lessons of friendship in a humourous and heartfelt way. The scene and characters are lovingly created from plasticine and beautifully directed by Adam Elliot.